Tuesday, 27 September 2011

So, last month (31st August, to be precise) it was my 24th birthday. Yep, I'm properly in my mid-twenties now - I can't pretend to be on the cusp anymore, let's face it, it's all downhill from here. Anyway, I finally got around to making a haul video of all the lovely goodies I got. (Not that I'm materialistic or anything...)

I realised, after I'd finished filming, that I didn't mention the present my boyfriend got me. This is not because his present was rubbish or weird or anything, it's because I am foolish and forgetful at times. You see, everything I talked about in the video was a physical thing I had in front of me, whereas his present wasn't. He took me to see The Sound of Music in Manchester and because I am foolish I didn't think to keep the tickets or buy a program as proof. Anyway, it was marvellous, I'd really recommend it to any musical fans out there. Verity Rushworth (who used to play Donna Windsor in Emmerdale) was absolutely brilliant as Maria and Jason Donovan was supposed to be playing Captain Von Trapp, but we saw the undertsudy because he was ill. Fab show though... "the hills are ALIIIIIIIIIIVE with the sound of music!" Thanks Joe!

Monday, 26 September 2011

So, as seems to be the case with all of my blogging lately, this is another very late post. I always aim to do a monthly 'update' post at the start of the month, but here we are, 26th September, and I've only just managed to find the time to do one. I think we're just going to have to accept that September has been a month of lateness. Hopefully October will be better...

So how've you all been? Good weekend? Good!

I'm currently loving;

Rehearsals. As I've previously mentioned, I'm a musical theatre obsessive and a member of an am-dram group in Liverpool that frequently puts on shows. We've just started rehearsing for a show called Into The Woods which we're doing in December and I'm having so much fun! I'm playing Little Red Riding Hood, so have to do a lot of skipping about and acting childish, which, for me, isn't much of a stretch. We had a dance rehearsal yesterday that wasn't even particularly vigorous, but it's been a long time since I did any dancing and today my legs are aching like mad! Ow ow ow.

Autumn sortin'. I had a big tidy out last week, put a load of stuff I never wear into charity bags, stuck all of my Summer clothes back into storage and brought all my Winter out from the depths of my wardrobe. I know it's not officially Winter yet, in fact today the weather's actually been quite nice, but I thought I'd try and be organised for once. I'm looking forward to stocking up on some nice chunky knits and a new Winter coat!

This nail varnish. Of all the polishes I got in the Models Own sale, Pink Punch has to be my favourite! It's just so beautiful! It's turned out to be the most difficult nail colour to photograph - it's actually a lot more pink than the pic suggests, it's quite similar to Coral Reef, which is another of my faves, but it's more neon and vibrant. I'm sure this'll make it into my September faves video (which I'm going to film this week and get it out on time, I PROMISE!), but I just wanted to post a pic too, because it's hard to see things in videos sometimes and this is just too lovely not to show off.

A Fine Frenzy. Not a new artist at all, I think she's been around for a good couple of years, but she's not very well known in the UK. You know how I'm a fan of quirky girl singers and this lady is no exception. Her music is lovely and cheerful and she's so damn pretty! I want her face/hair/style.

Delete This At Your Peril. You know those really annoying emails you get in your spam box claiming to be from African princes or Eastern European girls looking for love? This is a book about someone who decided to respond to those emails and the ridiculous conversations that followed. An absolutely hilarious book, I can't recommend it enough!

I'm currently hating;

Glee on Sky One. What fresh hell is this?! I'm really not happy about Glee being moved to Sky One as it means I can't watch it on my TV anymore (I only have Freeview and Sky One isn't a Freeview channel). It's not the end of the world because I'm sure I can watch it online or Sky Plus it downstairs or something, but still, not happy. E4 what are you playing at? You get rid of Friends, then you lose Glee?! How crap are you?!

Have you had a good September? How's school/uni/work treating you? What are you loving and hating at the moment?

Thursday, 22 September 2011

Ok, so originally my Products of the Month for July was meant to have two parts because it was too long for one video. I published the first part here but never got around to doing the second part, so this is Products of the Month for July Part 2 (Franki Returns) and Products of the Month for August all rolled up into one horribly edited little package. Hurray!

Sunday, 4 September 2011

As you probably know, last week Models Own held another 50% off everything sale on their site and I, along with the rest of the blogging population got very excited. I was actually a bit worried that the sale would go live while I was away on holiday in Herefordshire and I'd miss out completely, but fortunately, due to technical problems, it actually got delayed for a couple of days, which meant that I could still snap up plenty of half price goodies when I got home. Happy days. My package arrived on Thursday and I'm so pleased with what I bought.

I know that Models Own is most well known for its nail polishes, but I decided to get a few other makeup products too. I've not tried everything out properly yet, but I'm LOVING the bronzing powder, the darker shade is perfect for contouring and the lighter one makes a lovely blusher. Of the nail colours I bought, so far I've only tried Pink Punch and Blooboo but I'm looking forward to giving Top Turquoise a go too, as I know it's a very popular one. Pink Punch is probably my favourite product so far, it is the most ridiculously bright pinky/coral colour I've ever owned. I've been dying to find an obnoxiously bright fluorescent pink for a while now and this is definitely it!

What did you buy in the sale? Have you tried any of the above products? What did you think?

Friday, 2 September 2011

You may remember, many moons ago, that I mentioned I was going to the Jacques Townhouse and that I would blog about it in the following days. Well, the days which followed turned out to be impossible blogging days for these reasons; firstly, my laptop got a killer virus that was so clever and so evil that whenever it realised I was running a virus scan it actually made the laptop automatically shut down. I shit you not. I eventually managed to beat the bastard, but it did prevent me from blogging for a few days. Then I went on holiday to Herefordshire, where they don't have t'Internet apparently and that prolonged the non-bloggingness even more. So here is my much belated post on the Jacques Townhouse, which was lovely and fun and glamourous.

If you've not heard of it, Jacques is a brand of fruit cider that is specifically marketed towards women. The Jacques Townhouse is basically a big townhouse where you can go (for free) and drink Jacques and eat cakes and look at lots of pretty things and get made over and play dress up. Fun fun fun. It was initially set up last Summer in London but this year they very sensibly added a second Townhouse in glorious Liverpool. I went along with my friend Nicole, neither of us really knowing what to expect as the description on the Jacques Facebook page was quite vague; it mentioned make overs and photoshoots but apart from that it all seemed a bit mysterious. I was intrigued...

Now, if I was a good blogger, I'd have taken my camera along with me, because that's what bloggers do isn't it? They go to events and they snap away and then post lots of pretty pictures for all to see. Sadly, I got to the bus stop and realised I'd left my camera at home and really couldn't be bothered to go back, so that was the end of that really. Fortunately, the Jacques Facebook page is absolutely full of photos, so I thought I'd nick borrow a few to give you an idea of what it was like inside. (if you had gotten to this point in the post and assumed that I'd taken these photos, God bless you, but I am RUBBISH at photography...)

It's hard to fully describe what the Townhouse was like inside; Nicole and I went in and were lead to the reception area, where we were greeted by lots of very attractive maids and butlers and a very excitable man named Mr Flowers who just kept telling us how beautiful we were and how much he liked our shoes/outfits/jewellery. It was pretty good for the confidence! We were then each given a 'key to the bar' (which entitled us to two free drinks, sadly not the whole bar) and were told what we could do in the Tonwhouse, which included, cupcake decorating, games in the 'Enchanted Garden', makeovers in the Beauty Parlour and a mini photo shoot in the Photo Studio.

Myself and Nicole chilling in the Enchanted Garden

We managed to get around most of the rooms - we decorated (then ate) cupcakes, chilled in the garden, had mini makeovers and then went and had a photo shoot (which included wigs and props).

In the Beauty Parlour, you had the option of getting your hair, makeup, lashes or nails done, or you could have a massage. They had absolutely TONS of Models Own products so I was a bit overexcited, however I evenutally opted to get my hair done, as I very rarely wear my hair in an updo and wanted to get some tips on how to do it. This did mean, however, that I couldn't try on any of the wigs or hats in the Photo Studio. Gutted! Nicole looked lovely with a red bob though!

It was such a fun way to spend an afternoon and my only real criticism was that it was slightly overcrowded and too short. When we first went into the Townhouse we spent a good few minutes going from room to room, attempting to get in but with no luck as they were all too full. We eventually settled on sitting out in the garden for a bit, then went back into the house a little while later, which was fine, but a bit frustrating! Also, there was loads to do but limited time; you were only allowed in for an hour-and-a-half-long session and then you had to leave, to allow the organisers to set up for the next batch of people. This meant that people didn't get time to do all of the activities that were on offer - we weren't able to go into the Wardrobe of Wonders, which was a shame because it was full of gorgeous vintage dresses and I'd have loved to try one on. Hopefully the organisers will have picked up on this so that if they run the event again next year, they'll maybe make the sessions longer and have less people attending each one.

Even so, it was definitely worth a visit and I really like that this is an event that's aimed at the public as so many brands tend to run events solely for celebrities or press. While I understand why that's the case, I do think that Jacques are onto a winner here. If you want to get people interested in your brand, what better way to do it than treat them to some pampering and glamour? It obviously worked as Nicole and I had never tried the drink itself before, but after having two bottles of Jacques at the event (and a third in our goodie bags) we both agreed that it's something we'd drink again on a night out.

Did you get a chance to visit the Jacques Townhouse? What did you think? Would you go again next year?

All photos (apart from the Instagram one of Nicole and I) courtesy of Jacques.